Inside US Trade: China Announces It Will Not Expand December GPA Offer To More Entities

· February 17, 2015

17

February 2015

In an unexpected move, China this week announced to signatories of the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) that it does not intend to improve the market access concessions it made in its latest accession offer presented in December 2014, but is willing to negotiate exclusions it has proposed.

At a Feb. 11 meeting of the Committee on Government Procurement, China said it is not willing to add any entities to Annexes 1-3, which cover procurement by central, sub-central, and state-owned enterprises (SOEs), respectively.

China also indicated that negotiations should continue on its most recent offer because it was unsure whether another revised offer would be put forward, sources said. China also said it hoped other parties would adopt a "practical attitude" toward its offer and reminded them it is a developing country while most other GPA signatories are developed nations, Geneva sources said.

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